RJC comes out against stimulus bill

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Republican Jewish Coaltion is opposing the current version of the economic stimulus bill.

In an "urgent action alert" Tuesday evening, the organization told its members to contact their senators and urge them to "reject any ‘stimulus’ plan that fails the test of ‘timely, temporary and targeted’ — a test which it argued the current plan does not meet.

The group also took issue with "buy American" provisions in the bill, calling them protectionist, and joined with Orthodox groups in criticizing the failure to include non-public schools in the "green" schools modernization initiative. Finally, the RJC asked that the Senate give serious consideration to Republican alternatives during debate, which the House did not.

"Please pass this message on to friends and family — especially younger voters who will bear a disproportionate share of the massive debt burden this bill would impose — and ask them to weigh in on behalf of fiscal common sense," the alert stated.

The RJC is the only Jewish group that has come out against the legislation. A number of Jewish organizations — including United Jewish Communities, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism — are lobbying for the package, primarily because of the assistance it provides to low-income Americans and the additional funds it would provide to Jewish nursing homes and family services providers.